Introducing Jessie Owens
Jesse Owens: His biography
“We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort."
Jesse Owens, the son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave, achieved what no Olympian before him had accomplished. His stunning achievement of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin has made him the best remembered athlete in Olympic history.
He was born in Alabama in America, one of seven children and was named James Cleveland but known as J.C. When he was nine he moved school and when his new teacher asked for his name to enter in the register, she thought he said "Jesse". The name stuck and he would be known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.
His promising athletic career began early. At secondary school, he won all of the major track events, including the Ohio state championship for three consecutive years. He then attended Ohio State University. During his time there he had to work a number of jobs to support himself such as a night lift operator, a waiter and he worked at a petrol station.
Jesse entered the 1936 Olympics (which were held in Nazi Germany) amidst the belief by Hitler that the Games would support his belief that the German "Aryan" people were the dominant race. Jesse had different plans, as he became the first American track & field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad. During a time of deep-rooted segregation, he not only discredited Hitler's master race theory, but also affirmed that individual excellence, rather than race or national origin, distinguishes one man from another.
Jesse Owens proved in Berlin and thereafter that he was a dreamer who could make the dreams of others come true, a speaker who could make the world listen and a man who held out hope to millions of young people. Throughout his life, he worked with youths, sharing of himself and the little material wealth that he had.
Athletes didn't return from the Olympics to lucrative advertising and product endorsement campaigns in those days, and Owens supported his young family with a variety of jobs – many helping underprivileged young people. Owens travelled widely in his post-Olympic days and proved an inspirational speaker.
Jesse Owens died from complications due to lung cancer on March 31, 1980 in Tucson, Arizona. Although words of sorrow, sympathy and admiration poured in from all over the world, perhaps President Carter said it best when he stated: "Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry. His personal triumphs as a world-class athlete and record holder were the prelude to a career devoted to helping others. His work with young athletes, as an unofficial ambassador overseas, and a spokesman for freedom are a rich legacy to his fellow Americans."
“We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort."
Jesse Owens, the son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave, achieved what no Olympian before him had accomplished. His stunning achievement of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin has made him the best remembered athlete in Olympic history.
He was born in Alabama in America, one of seven children and was named James Cleveland but known as J.C. When he was nine he moved school and when his new teacher asked for his name to enter in the register, she thought he said "Jesse". The name stuck and he would be known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.
His promising athletic career began early. At secondary school, he won all of the major track events, including the Ohio state championship for three consecutive years. He then attended Ohio State University. During his time there he had to work a number of jobs to support himself such as a night lift operator, a waiter and he worked at a petrol station.
Jesse entered the 1936 Olympics (which were held in Nazi Germany) amidst the belief by Hitler that the Games would support his belief that the German "Aryan" people were the dominant race. Jesse had different plans, as he became the first American track & field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad. During a time of deep-rooted segregation, he not only discredited Hitler's master race theory, but also affirmed that individual excellence, rather than race or national origin, distinguishes one man from another.
Jesse Owens proved in Berlin and thereafter that he was a dreamer who could make the dreams of others come true, a speaker who could make the world listen and a man who held out hope to millions of young people. Throughout his life, he worked with youths, sharing of himself and the little material wealth that he had.
Athletes didn't return from the Olympics to lucrative advertising and product endorsement campaigns in those days, and Owens supported his young family with a variety of jobs – many helping underprivileged young people. Owens travelled widely in his post-Olympic days and proved an inspirational speaker.
Jesse Owens died from complications due to lung cancer on March 31, 1980 in Tucson, Arizona. Although words of sorrow, sympathy and admiration poured in from all over the world, perhaps President Carter said it best when he stated: "Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry. His personal triumphs as a world-class athlete and record holder were the prelude to a career devoted to helping others. His work with young athletes, as an unofficial ambassador overseas, and a spokesman for freedom are a rich legacy to his fellow Americans."